Recently Rose heard Hansel and Gretel. She wanted to hear it over and over again. And then the father left them in the woods? And the witch locked up Hansel? And the witch was going to eat them? All this giddy and cheery energy until the middle of the night.

Then we had bad dreams and obsessive thoughts. Rose said rather plaintively, "I can't get Hansel and Gretel out of my head."

So, at two in the morning, I offered these choices:

1. Think happy thoughts. Instead of witches eating little children, Rose offered to think about horses with rainbow wings, ballerinas, and anything princess.

2. Deny them power. Stare straight at the witch and say, "You're not real!"

3. Retell the story. Rose saved Hansel and Gretel with a balloon one time and a truck another. She locked up the father and the witch. She got rid of the dangerous gingerbread house.

4. Trust Mommy. Mommy is stronger them monsters, ghosts, witches, giants. . . Mommy is not going to let anything bad come in this room. If Mommy tells the monster to get out from under the bed and jump out the window, he has to go, and that's that.

Yesterday, Rose announced, "I haven't thought about Hansel and Gretel in a long time."